Am I Allowed to Feel Happiness after All I've Done
by Elflady88
Summary: Pained by his past Itachi has locked away all of his emotions and turned his heart to ice. Can someone melt the ice and heal his shattered heart. ItaxOC
1. Prologue

I have a major writers block on my DeixOc story, so I decided to put up another story while I deal with it. So this is my first Itachi story, if he gets out of character to much then tell me so I can fix it.

I appreciate reviews, that way you can help me make my stories better and it makes me happy to know that people read my stories, and I may update more often if I know my stories are popular.

I apologise for any spelling mistakes, Word doesn't correct every incorrect word and I may have missed something when I looked through it, english isn't my first language so ther may be some mistakes.

If you haven't lost interest yet and started on the story already here's the disclaimer.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did a few things would have changed. But I do own my OC and the plot.

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The streets that a few hours earlier were full of life lay deserted and bloody, littered with dead bodies, the houses was dark and silent. Only death remained to watch a small boy run down the street. His tear filled eyes wide with fear, avoiding the bodies of persons he once knew and loved. A dark figure in the middle of the road made him abruptly skid to a halt.

"This can't be true. You're not my brother. Because…" The small child said, eyes overflowing again, his voice weak and trembling. "The reason why I continued to act as the brother you desired was because I wanted to ascertain your capacity. You are like me, capable to awaken ´mangekyou sharingan´, however there is a special condition. You must kill your closest friend."

"No way." The young kid stammered shocked at the terrible ting one had to do to obtain mangekyou. "Just as I did." The cold voice of his older brother said. "That was…You…You killed Shisui-san?" The boy asked terrified because of what he had to experience at this young age. "That's right. Thanks to that I managed to obtain these eyes."

"If you awaken it there will be three people including myself who can use mangekyou sharingan. In that case there would be reason enough to let you live. But as you are now, you're not even worth killing. Foolish little brother, if you want to kill me…Curse me! Hate me! And live a long and unsightly life. Run away…Run away…And cling to your pitiful life. And when you have the same eyes as me. Come before me." As the older Uchiha finished he once again used his sharingan on his younger brother who fell unconscious to the ground.

Itachi ran through the dark forest, jumping from tree to tree, quickly getting further away from his old village. Until now he had pushed all his feelings and thoughts aside, only concentrating on his mission. A mission that only four people, excluding himself knew about, Sandaime, Danzou and the council members.

He had been forced to make the hardest decision in his life. To don't carry out the mission and let a war break out or help stop the Uchiha's planned coup d'état and prevent a forth ninja war. But in order to do that he would have to kill his own clan.

Also if he carried out the mission he would be treated as a mass murderer and a missing Nin, so the people of Konoha and other countries ninja villages as well wouldn't find out about the secret mission. That the sandaime hokage, however unwillingly, had ordered the assassination of one of the strongest ninja clans.

In order to complete his mission Itachi did what he had promised himself to never do, he killed his best friend, Shisui to obtain the mangekyou sharingan. He had always hated the true powers of the sharingan, and the ways to unlock them. First kill your best friend and obtain mangekyou then take your own brothers eyes to earn the eternal mangekyou.

But in the end Itachi ended up failing his mission, he spared one person. He just couldn't bring himself to kill his little brother, Sasuke. He had hardened his heart and mind and slaughtered everyone, even his parents, but when Sasuke arrived, completely terrified, Itachi couldn't raise his katana against him.

So instead he acted as the evil traitor he was in his own eyes and did what he could to make his beloved brother hate him, though it broke his heart to do it. So that Sasuke one day would be strong enough to kill him and give Itachi the peace he desired.

Itachi continued in the same pace though he was already tired only stopping to slash his headband and put it back on, his heart filled with pain, sadness, guilt, regret and anger. But he knew that if he hadn't done what he had, a fourth ninja war would've erupted. Itachi had experienced the third war when he was only four years old, still pained by the memories he had turned into someone who treasured peace and didn't want to fight unnecessarily.

It was ironic really that someone like him chooses to be a ninja, maybe it was the pressure from the clan, he wasn't sure. But he did know that he would do whatever he could to prevent another war. And now he had saved the fire country from a war, saving all the innocent people, in the exchange of his own clan's existence.

Interrupted from his thoughts by a few early birds starting their singing he noticed the sunrise was near, he could already see the light over the tree tops. Itachi recognised where he was, somewhere around here the Akatsuki leader was waiting with his new partner, someone named Kisame, he couldn't remember it correctly.

After twenty minutes Itachi reached the edge of the forest where he could make out two persons, both with enormous chakra amounts. Thanks to the sharingan he noticed that the shorter man was a hologram, meaning that either the leader was far away or he didn't want to show himself in person. By the time he reached them Itachi had completely incased his heart in ice, and he didn't intend for it to ever be melted.

* * *

This was a bit short, and I hope I got everything right from Itachi's past, if not then tell me.


	2. Chapter 1

I appreciate reviews, that way you can help me make my stories better and it makes me happy to know that people read my stories, and I may update more often if I know my stories are popular.

I apologise for any spelling mistakes, Word doesn't correct every incorrect word and I may have missed something when I looked through it, english isn't my first language so ther may be some mistakes.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did a few things would have changed. But I do own my OC and the plot.

* * *

20 year old Hyuuga Umiko, mostly called Umi was on her way home from the Hokages office after a mission. She and her genin team, consisting of Razec, Saki and Touya had a simple escorting mission to the river country, they accompanied a merchant to his home and only met two bandit gangs along the way.

Since Raiga was killed the people in Katabami Kinzan had an easier life, trading had become more and more frequent, but many merchants was still afraid of bandits so they requested ninja guards.

Umi thought over her team as she walked along the streets heading towards the Hyuuga compound, she didn't have to concentrate on where she was going, her body would find it even if she was blind.

Her team was very balanced, Razec was an outgoing and kind person who was smarter than he appeared to be. He was a close ranged fighter who preferred taijutsu and only used ninjutsu as a last resort. He was a bit hot headed sometimes but could calm down if the situation demanded it, he would make a good chuunin if he learned to handle every situation more calmly.

Saki was the only girl on the team, she was outgoing and smart and was kind to everyone. She was a taijutsu and a genjutsu user and her ability to trace chakra was very useful. Saki wasn't the type of girl who swooned over the most skilled and popular guy, but Umi had noticed that she liked to spend time with Touya when they had free time, though they was each others opposites. She like Razec would make a good chuunin if she learned how to judge difficult situations better.

Touya was a very kind and a skilled ninjutsu user and he also had a talent for healing techniques, he was more shy and calmer than his teammates. He always studied hard and trained his chakra control to be able to master medical jutsus. Touya would handle the chuunin exam easily, he always thought about his comrades and the mission equally and could make the decision when it was necessary to give up and when it was better to continue.

As Umi went through her team in her head she realized how much Razec reminded her of Naruto, Konoha's number one knuckleheaded ninja, though Naruto had been even more hyper than Razec and also more childish. But of course seeing as he along with Konohamaru spent much time with the ramen loving ninja it wasn't that strange after all.

"Oi Umi-nee chan, matte-teebayo!" A load voice called out behind her. _"When you speak of the devil."_ Umi thought as she turned around smiling towards the blonde ninja who was running at her.

"Hi Naruto. Did you come back today?" Umi asked, Naruto had really grown, he was as tall as her now. "Hai. It's been awhile Umi-nee chan." He said with a big grin like usual though without his typical annoying behaviour he had even changed his orange and blue jump suit to a black and orange instead, not a big change but it was better than blue.

But it was almost sad, the keyword being almost, that he had matured under these two years. When Umi first met Naruto she thought he was a very hyper and semi annoying child, but after getting to know him she began to love and treat him as a little brother.

"Have you met Sakura or Konohamaru yet?" "No. I was looking for them when I saw you, dattebayo." "Razec asked for you today too. I think he wants' to brag about finally becoming a genin. You know even though my team used to hang out with you I must say that Razec is almost a copy of you." Umi said smiling.

"I better find them then. I have a new jutsu to teach them, dattebayo. See you nee-chan!" Naruto said, he was already on his way when he finished his sentence. Umi smiled to herself as she continued on her way home, wondering if that jutsu was another perverted technique. Considering he had spent two years with Jiraya, a sannin and the biggest perv in the fire country, it probably was.

Next morning Umi dressed in her civil clothes, a simple sleeveless black shirt which showed her ANBU tattoo, and a pair of dark blue knee length pants and pulled her waist long black hair up in a high ponytail. She put her leaf headband and a kunai in her pocket before sliding open the shoji and walked out of her room and headed towards the kitchen.

The Hyuuga compound was built in traditional style so Umi walked past the training ground on her way to the kitchen. Her younger brother Neji and their uncle Hiashi was training while Hanabi, her youngest cousin was watching them.

At the chuunin exam two years ago Umi and Neji was told the truth about their father's death, that he didn't get killed to protect the main family, but that he took his brothers place freely. Hizashi wanted to have the freedom of choosing something of his own free will, not being bound by the Hyuuga curse.

After that both Umi and Neji got along much better with the main family, Hiashi had even started to train them, despite them being branch members. But Umi trained less with her uncle than Neji did, instead she studied medical jutsus and the Godaime Tsunade trained her sometimes too since Umi had a natural sense for chakra control due to her fighting style, in which she needed to be capable to manipulate chakra.

When she reached the kitchen Umi filled a bowl with cereals and poured on some milk before sitting down at the low table in the dining room. Hinata was on a mission with her team this weak so Umi had to eat her breakfast alone. She quickly finished and washed her bowl and spoon in the sink and put them back in the cabinet.

Outside the compound Umi walked towards Konoha's gates and walked through the big forest towards a clearing she had found that contained many medical herbs. She had spotted it on a mission earlier and now was the first time she had enough free time to go there and collect some of the them.

The clearing was pretty big with knee high grass mixed with all sorts of herbs and flowers of all colours and shapes. A small stream ran through one corner of the field, it was connected with a small lake a few yards away. Umi drew her kunai and walked over to the nearest herbs and started to collect those she needed.

After an hour Umi heard voices and felt a vague presence nearby. She rose up and put the herbs she had in her hand in her bag around her waist and spun the kunai a few times before holding it ready to attack as she compressed her chakra and activated her Byakugan and searched the area.

Two people walked along a path, wearing black cloaks with a pattern of red clouds outlined with white. Umi recognized them as Akatsuki members, they were after the nine bijuus, tailed beasts, and the people who had them sealed inside their bodies, called Jinchuuriki. Naruto had the kyuubi inside him and naturally so was Akatsuki after him too.

Umi had no weapons except her one kunai and her chakra despite that she decided to follow them, she had her byakugan a perfect tool for long distance spying and if she could find out what they planned that would be great help to catch them. Who could have predicted that to be a decision that would change her life forever?

For about ten minutes Umi carefully followed the Akatsuki members so far behind them that she needed byakugan to see them. Under that time they didn't say one word. Suddenly they stopped and the tallest turned around, and Umi could feel the enormous amount of chakra he had.

Even though she knew he stopped concealing his chakra on purpose she took a step backwards and stepped on a dry twig, she tensed as it snapped. For seconds there was silence, not one movement even the wind stopped blowing. Then one of the persons before her disappeared with a puff of smoke, a kage bunshin.

Umi was barely able to dodge the giant sword coming at her. "How fortunate. We didn't even have to search." A strange blue skinned man said as he pulled his sword from the ground, where it had made a big hole. "What do you mean?" Umi asked keeping her distance, she knew this man from the bingo book, Hoshigake Kisame from the mist village.

"Give up and you'll find out." Umi had no desire to engage in close combat with that chakra sucking sword so she let her kage bunshin fight fish boy, she had created it earlier when the sword hit the ground creating a dust cloud.

Umi reached a small lake, panting she stopped at the shore catching her breath she reached into her pocket and picked up her headband and tied it around her forehead. "It seems that I managed to get away from that shark guy at least. I wonder where the other one went." Umi said quietly to herself rising up letting her pearl white eyes scan the surroundings. She could see the high walls that surrounded Konoha but now that Akatsuki were after her she had a very small chance to call for backup.

When she felt a vaguely familiar chakra behind her Umi quickly whipped around ready to face him, she cursed herself for not turning around more frequently so he wouldn't have approached in her blind spot.

Umi hadn't seen her old friend in seven years but she could still recognize him. "Uchiha Itachi." She said in a low tone, almost a growl, her eyes narrowing, though she avoided eye contact not wanting to get caught in a genjutsu. "What the hell do you want? What is your purpose for treading so close to Konoha?" She asked, she was a jounin but she had once been in the ANBU, though she went back to be a jounin pretty quick since that fitted her better.

Though her courage faltered quite a bit when knew she was up against the Uchiha genius. Umi knew she wouldn't be able to win against Itachi, even if she had help she doubted he would have any problems. _"And to make it even worse he isn't alone." _She thought bitterly as the blue skinned man appeared beside Itachi.

They just had to appear on the one day she didn't have her weapons with her she sighed inwardly, she only had a kunai that she used to cut the herbs she collected. Of course she could use Jyuuken but against two highly skilled criminals, one who could suck her chakra away and one who used genjutsu that wouldn't be of much use.

"Akatsuki needs a medic." Itachi said coolly. "So will you come freely or do we have to use force?" The very tall figure beside the Uchiha asked. Umi's answer to this was to sink down into the fighting position used by the Hyuugas, glaring at them, were they stupid, she would never abandon her village freely.

"I'll take care of her Itachi-san. After all she's only a little girl." Ok that pissed her off, what a sexist, not that Umi was an overly crazy feminist but she didn't like to be underestimated just because she was a girl.

Fast as lightning, metaphorically speaking, she ran at him, easily ducking under his outstretched hand and grabbing his arm and pressed two fingers into his shoulder, before quickly jumping away, successfully cutting of the chakra flow, leaving his right arm without chakra.

"Don't underestimate me just because I'm a girl. Your big chakra reserves won't do you any good if you can't use them." She snapped angrily, pulling her right arm to her waist, lifting the left, both palms forward against fish boy, and lowered herself a bit as she focused chakra into her hands. The famous open fisted taijutsu style of the Hyuugas, Jyuuken.

Unfortunately Umi was a close range fighter and if she got to close to Kisame's big sword then it would either shave her skin of or suck her chakra away. But she couldn't afford to be too careful either since she had Itachi behind her, though he didn't seem like he wanted to step in to the fight right now.

Under the following fifteen minutes Umi battled hard to get close enough to hit Kisame but at the same time avoid his sword. She managed to hit the chakra points in his left arm too so he was now unable to use ninjutsu. But her enemy had a great stamina too and she could feel herself getting weaker, her chakra was running low, she had avoided being hit by the sword but her chakra got drained by only being near it.

She tiredly prepared another Hakke Rokujuuyonshou (Eight Divination Signs, Sixty-Four Palms of the Hand), Umi cast forward, though a bit slower than in the beginning, since Jyuuken not only drained chakra but her physical strength too.

But now her bad luck decided to kick in. After Umi finished her attack, Kisame slashed his sword down at her, she managed to sidestep and avoid getting hit but it sucked away the rest of her chakra. Exhausted and out of chakra Umi's byakugan disappeared and she fell to the ground unconscious.

The young Hyuuga was awoken by the sounds of an open fire, Umi slowly opened her eyes and glanced around. A tree-trunk were placed on in front of a camp fire, she lay on the ground a few feet away from the fire while Itachi sat on the tree trunk and fish boy was no where to be seen.

She had a very standard plan formulated almost as soon as she woke up, the easy part: find a good opportunity and then run for your life, the hard part: Don't get caught. "Don't even try to run." Itachi said without even looking at her before Umi could put her very simple plan in action.

"So, why did you want just me to join? I'm not the strongest in Konoha." Umi asked after sitting quiet for awhile, sulking over her bad luck. "Because you are a medic-nin and a Hyuuga." He answered coolly, looking into the fire, its light reflected his red eyes making it look like there was a fire in his eyes too.

"But there are stronger persons in my clan than me. Neji is stronger than me and so is Hiashi and Hinata is also a good medic. Not that I wanted them to be kidnapped instead, well maybe uncle Hiashi, but anyway. Why me?" Umi kept asking, she knew the young Uchiha wasn't very talkative, in case he hadn't changed since before he left but she doubted that, anyway she wanted something to do, and the only thing she could do was talk, maybe succeeding in annoying him a bit.

"Because you were the first one we could capture without fighting the whole village, besides it was you who followed us." This time his tone was sharper indicating that chat-time was over, and that he was getting irritated. "So it's not because you remembered your old friend and decided to make her life a living hell?" Umi asked innocently, a smirk creasing her lips. "No." He replied icily, glaring at her, sharingan still activated.

Right then fish boy arrived and sat down on the tree trunk beside Itachi. "There is no one nearby and the traps are all done, Itachi-san." Kisame said. "Hn." Umi decided upon hearing about the traps that there was nothing she could do right now so she lay back down on the ground and fell asleep.

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This was a bit short too, not one of my chapters are any longer than 3400 words, I really need to work on that.


	3. Chapter 2

This is the longest chapter I've written so far and I hope I'm still keeping the characters in character as much as possible. (That sounded a bit wierd but whatever).

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did a few things would have changed. But I do own my OC and the plot.

I would like to thank RozenMaiden14 and diggydawg who were my first reviewers in this story:)

* * *

Next morning Itachi threw her own kunai at her feet telling her to slash her headband. "What! Then it will look like I went freely." Umi exclaimed angrily, sending them death glares, if looks could kill both members would have been as dead as they could be by now. "That's the point Umi. Now hurry up." Hesitatingly, she did as she was told, under silent protest.

"You know her Itachi-san?" The shark guy asked his partner as Umi put her kunai to her hitai-ate and quickly slashed it. "Hn." Was Itachi's only replay as they started walking southwest. "I see that you're still as quiet as always. You haven't changed much." Umi commented as she walked between them, since they didn't trust her.

Itachi was used to walk long distances in silence, he also knew Kisame was used to it by now but he could feel that Umi started to loose her patience. When they were kids she had been a very happy and outgoing person, but under these seven years she had changed. Of course she wouldn't behave like usual when captured but Itachi had a feeling that she hadn't just grown up, there was something different.

--

The Uchiha could also remember that Umi had wanted to become the best medic in Konoha, he wondered if she had succeded. When they trained together she had told him that she wanted to become a medic so she could help her friends and the innocent people. Itachi hoped she had succeded her dream.

Despite his thoughts Itachi didn't feel any guilt, sadness or happiness, his feelings where locked away too deep for that, his thoughts were merely a stating of facts. But his hope that Umi had become a good medic was real, his eyesight was deteriorating faster and he wished that it could be healed.

--

After walking in silence for over two hours Umi started to loose her patience, but before she could complain her captors stopped in front of a huge cliff. "We're here." Kisame announced, Umi looked around and then raised an eyebrow and looked at him with disbelief. "Are you sure? I don't see anything." "Oh, you're right. The big sign telling everyone where the cave is is missing." Kisame said sarcastically earning a scowl from the Hyuuga. "Ha ha very funny." Itachi paid no heed to his teammate and their prisoners arguing instead he formed a hand sign.

A low rumble shook the ground and slowly the stone parted like a curtain, creating a door way leading into the mountain. They walked in and behind them the opening slowly disappeared but it didn't get completely dark inside, it was more like dusk or late evening. Umi noticed that the faint light came from another opening at the end of the long corridor.

Her captors led her through an open door from where the light came. "Tobi left the door open again." Kisame sighed exasperatingly as he closed the door behind them. Umi looked at the room she stood in, it was a large living room with a TV at one wall with a big couch and armchairs in front of it. One door to the left stood open revealing a library with bookcases from floor to roof.

To the right an arch way led to a big and brightly designed kitchen, as Umi was led towards two doors straight ahead she wondered who designed the cave. She had trouble understanding how S-ranked criminals would be interested in that, the walls were clad with tree panels and the floor was also covered with oak flooring. There were also flowers in some corners and paintings on the walls, adding the electricity that apparently existed down here this looked like a nice house.

Umi's thoughts were cut of as the trio reached the doors and Itachi knocked on the left and almost immediately received permission to enter. But Kisame held Umi back and let Itachi talk with the leader first. Umi leaned against the wall and tried to hear what they talked about but couldn't hear anything through the door.

--

"Leader-sama we've captured a medic." Itachi said as he stood in front of Akatsuki's leader, he was the only one who didn't fear the rain ninja or his godlike abilities. "Apart from being a Hyuuga, she also is a good friend of the kyuubi boy." Itachi continued. "Good. She will remain here at the main base for the time being and you'll keep an eye on her when you're not on missions." The leader said with his usual cold voice and called out to Umi and Kisame to enter.

--

Umi was lead inside what looked like an office, the stone surroundings had been hidden with tree panels like the rest of the cave and a desk was placed across from the door. In the chair a man with fiery orange hair was seated, his eyes had a strange ripple like pattern. She was lead up beside Itachi and before the orange haired mans piercing look she wanted to run away or hide but she stood still.

"Hyuuga Umi you're taken here to be our medic so you will remain at the base and heal the members if they get injured. While you're here you'll always have another member with you and you're not allowed to go outside alone either. Konan'll show you to your room and help you settle in." The man Umi guessed to be the leader said, she also realized it would be very hard to escape under these circumstances. "Of course Pein." A soft voice said and Umi looked up, she hadn't noticed that there was another person in the room.

A blue haired woman stepped forth from where she had stood beside the leader, she had a white flower in her hair and an Akatsuki cloak. She stepped over to Umi and gently showed her the way out of the office, as they left Umi heard the leader ask the team still inside about their mission.

In the big living room Konan opened the door beside the office, it revealed a smaller hall and a staircase that led downwards. "This leads to the floor where the members have their bedrooms." Konan said in a smooth voice, though everything about her was gentle and polite Umi got a feeling that this wasn't just any person, she was strong, the fact that she called the leader by name while even Itachi called him leader-sama also indicated that she was important.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs a long but big corridor stretched out, Konan led her to one of the doors in the middle. "The four furthest away is Kakuzu, Hidan, Zetsu and Tobi's rooms. Across from yours are Itachi's and Kisame's beside his. The four closest to the stairs are Deidara, Sasori, mine and Pein's rooms. Every room has its own bathroom." The blue haired kunoichi explained as she opened the door to a room with light blue walls and dark wooden floor. The big bed was placed near a wardrobe and another door, there was also a desk and a couch beside a bookcase.

"This is your room." Konan said as she walked towards the wardrobe and pulled out bed clothing. Umi helped her put it on the bed before Konan left telling her that her room was the closest to the stairs to the left, if she needed anything.

Umi stepped over to the beige couch and sat down, she wondered if she should have protested more instead of just standing quiet and silently agree to everything. But she had a feeling that the leader wasn't someone you disobeyed, it wasn't just his intimidating air and many piercings, his eyes also held a powerful Kekkei Genkai she had read about the three great eye techniques but couldn't remember what it said about this. Instead she started to formulate a plan, first gain their trust and be allowed to walk around freely, and then escape and return to Konoha with a lot of inside information.

Okay that this plan had many weak spots but it wasn't Umi's style to always plan everything, if something went wrong she just would have to improvise. Her plan also relied on if Konoha would accept her back, maybe she would be listed as a missing Nin before she was able to escape and the Hokage, the citizens and her family would think of her as a traitor.

Umi sighed deeply, it wouldn't help her to think about what would happen she needed to concentrate on the present first. The first step to make Akatsuki trust her would be to agree to heal them without protest but she couldn't be too willing because they would suspect her of something. She would have to balance this very carefully if she wanted to survive to see Konoha again.

The young Hyuuga rose up and looked through her bookcase but found no medical books and stood and contemplated if she could go to the library or stay here and waiting for someone to come. She decided that even if she was their prisoner she had the right to walk around in the base so she walked over to the door and opened it, and almost walked into the person standing there.

--

Itachi walked down the stairs and towards Umi's room, if the leader hadn't specifically ordered him to guard her when not on missions he would never have done it. He didn't like being reminded about his past, especially not someone who had been his friend. But seeing as he had no choice he stopped out side her door and raised his hand to knock.

When the door opened he barely had time to withdraw his hand so to not knock the girl in the head, her pearl white eyes looked at him in surprise before she gathered herself. "I was going to the library." "I believe leader-sama ordered you to not go anywhere unless accompanied by someone." Itachi retorted back to her, blocking her way.

"Yeah I know that but I need to go to the library to see if there are any medical books there." She said and tried to get around the Uchiha, but he was taller than her and much stronger so Umi didn't have much of a chance to get by if he didn't move. "Besides, I need a book on how to properly heal eyes if you want me to heal your eyes without damaging them." Umi added, Itachi stiffened at that and subconsciously moved a bit allowing her to pass.

--

As Umi walked up the stair case she heard the Uchiha behind her, she didn't know why she had said the she could heal his eyes, she had just blurted it out. But it would certainly make them trust her more, but she had spent much time at the Uchiha compound as a child and heard about the enormous pressure sharingan puts on the eye, though only mangekyou would lead to blindness. Umi crossed the empty lounge and walked into the library.

Well inside the library she saw a few white couches scattered across the room and lamps hanging in the ceiling giving light to the window less room. Umi walked around trying to find medical books, she found a whole bookcase full of scrolls and books all regarding medical treatment and injuries. She pulled out a few books about the body and some scrolls about advanced healing. Umi carried it all to a sofa and placed everything on a small table and started to read the first book.

--

Itachi sat down in a couch nearby after pulling out a random book to read but couldn't concentrate on its contents. The girl had told him she could heal his eyes and give him his eyesight back. He hadn't fully loosed it yet but the surroundings got more blurry the more he used his mangekyou. Even though he hardly admitted it to himself he was slightly afraid of loosing his eyesight, to go blind, to see nothing but darkness all the time, he would be of no use the organization anymore either. But it didn't help him to sit here and think over it, slowly he pushed all his thoughts away and concentrated on the book while keeping an eye on Umi.

--

After almost two hours Umi put down the book she had finished reading and was about to pick up the second when her stomach growled. When she thought about it she hadn't eaten since the day she was captured and who knows how long ago that was. She looked over at Itachi noting he was reading, somehow she couldn't imagine the great Uchiha to like reading.

She stood up and walked closer to Itachi and was about to ask him about food when he raised his head and looked her in the eyes, blood red meeting milky white. "What?" "I'm hungry so I wondered if I should cook something for those at the base too." She answered his question. "If you want too, there are five here now including you." He said and put his book down and rose up and followed her towards the kitchen.

"You don't have to follow me everywhere you know." Umi said irritated as she started to look through the cupboards and the fridge to get an idea of what kind of food they had. "It's a specific order from leader-sama. You are to have someone with you all the time so I have no choice in the matter." He said coolly where he sat at the kitchen table, his head in his hands, he looked slightly strained. "Geez, it's a wonder I got my own room." Umi muttered quietly and took forth ingredients to make Udon and rice balls.

While the rice cooled down enough for Umi to roll the balls and the water for the Udon stood on the oven, she turned to Itachi who still had his hands over his eyes and forehead, though with no doubt he could still see her.

By the medical training she had Umi knew that eye injuries and disease could hurt quite a bit so she walked over to the Uchiha. "If you want I can help you get rid of the headache. It will only last until tomorrow but the strain on your eyes must cause severe pain. She explained, even if he was a criminal she was a medic and her drive to help people kicked in and quieted her sense of moral.

"Can you do it?" He asked as he lifted his head from his slender hands and looked at her. Umi nodded and gently put her hands on his temples and focused her chakra. Her hands started to glow green as she urged her chakra to find the cause of the pain and heal it. She pulled away after a few minutes and walked over to the rice bowl and started to roll it to small balls.

"Thanks." The almost inaudible word made her look at the man at the table, he looked less strained and more relaxed than before. "No problem." She answered and continued making food.

Since they were only five people at the base Umi put forth the food on the kitchen table instead of in the dining room. She had just finished putting forth the food and was about to go find the members when she heard voices coming closer. Soon Kisame came in followed by Konan and Pein.

"Wow finally some real food." Kisame exclaimed happily as he sat down beside Itachi. "We haven't eaten nothing except rice, ramen and burned omelet." At this Konan glared at the blue man. "Be glad I even decided to make food." She said in a cool voice at which Kisame started to concentrate on his food.

"This was very good. Would you mind to cook tomorrow too?" Konan said when she finished, getting agreeing nods from Kisame and the leader. "Not at all. If you want…I can teach you how to cook too." Umi said hesitatingly too Konan. "That would be very nice." She replied with a smile. When Konan and Umi started to clear the table all the guys disappeared and the girls was left to do the dishes.

Later that night Umi was still in the library where she was when Konan left her after dinner and Itachi took over the watch. He was reading his book when he heard a soft thud. He looked over at Umi and saw that she had dropped her scroll on advanced healing techniques and fallen asleep. Unsure of what to do he walked over to her and picked up the scroll, placing it on the table. Itachi took a blanket that hung over the couch back and gently placed it over her before going back to his book.

--

Next morning Umi woke up by a load commotion. "Deidara-sempai! You're back!" A childlike voice screamed and running footsteps were heard. "Don't you dare hug me Tobi, hmm." Another male voice answered as a load crash was heard, like someone was hit hard. Umi yawned and stood up realizing that she had slept on a couch, as she walked towards the door she vaguely remembered reading a medical scroll.

In the living room she saw a tall black haired man with an orange mask covering his face hold his head whining like a kid, Umi figured that to be Tobi. Beside him two men stood, one looked even younger than her and had messy red hair and maroon colored eyes, the other was a rather feminine blue eyed guy around her age with long blonde hair half set up in a ponytail and long bangs he and Tobi was not wearing any cloaks.

Umi stood still in the door way not sure what to say when the masked man noticed her and ran towards her and hug her, he came running with so much speed that she fell to the floor. "Hi I'm Tobi" You must be Umi-chan." He almost squealed, Umi wasn't sure what to do this time either, but she was unable to do anything since her arms was restricted by the child like man. "Tobi bad boy, let her go." A calm voice said and Umi felt Tobi be pulled of her.

"Idiot, hmm. What good would a medic do if she gets hugged to death?" The blonde stated as he released Tobi's collar. (**AN**: It's the collar on his shirt and not a dog collar.) "I'm Sasori." The red head said, his face completely without emotions. "That's Deidara and Tobi." He continued and pointed at them in turn before turning around and walk towards the stairs. He wasn't much of a talker.

"Tobi is sorry Umi-chan. Is Tobi a good boy?" She looked back to Tobi, somehow he reminded her of a puppy. "Of course you're a good boy Tobi." Umi said and smiled as he ran after Sasori downstairs. Umi looked at the man beside her noticing he had a few burn marks and cuts on his hands and arms. "Do you want me to heal those burns of yours?" She asked, "Why are you so normal about this? I thought that you would protest more since you were kidnapped." He asked curiously and looked at her, a smirk on his face. "Because I became a medic to help people and even though you're criminals I still think you're people." Deidara nodded and followed her to the medical room that was located beside the library.

Umi focused her chakra to her hands and held them over the injuries and watched them slowly heal. "What did you do to get all these burns she asked the rock Nin as she finished with one arm. "I was trying out new bombs, hmm. But I stood to close and got my cloak burned of." He answered causally with a grin, which turned into a smirk as he saw her reaction when she healed his right arm and its mouth opened. "What is that?" She asked curiously as she gathered her chakra again. "I use these to make my art, hmm." She nodded and continued healing the burns.

After finishing healing Deidara's many burns and cuts he left saying something about proving his art to Sasori. Umi went to the kitchen and started to make breakfast, she wasn't alone for long. "Morning Umi. Do you mind starting to teach me today?" Konan said as she walked inside the kitchen. "Not at all. I was going to make rise and miso soup today.

They put out plates on the dining table since they were too many to eat in the kitchen today. As they put forth tea and water voices was heard. "These guys must have a strong sense of smell to be able to smell food one floor away." Umi said astonished. "Yeah, they're not used to anything else than rise and ramen after all." Konan agreed with a small laugh.

After breakfast Umi went back to study her medical books, she wasn't entirely finished with her medical training since she started five years ago so she didn't pass this opportunity up. This time Sasori sat in a couch nearby repairing and adding new weapons on a puppet. Itachi and Kisame was sent on a mission and Tobi was somewhere in the base while Deidara was out experimenting with new clay bombs.

--

By dinner time Umi was done with the scrolls on healing and felt more confident on healing Itachi's eyes, she just needed to examine the injuries first. Sasori looked up at her when she walked towards the lounge. "I'm going to make dinner." She explained, he simply nodded and waved at her to keep going as she walked she felt something attach to her back, she turned around to look at the red head. "Chakra strings." He simply stated as he merely glanced at her before continuing his work. Umi didn't really like the feeling of being restricted but resigned since he wasn't really controlling her, the string was only so tight that he could feel her movements but lose enough so she would feel it so little as possible.

Konan showed up a bit later this time explaining that she was busy helping Pein plan the missions. "It's a bad idea giving Deidara any stealth missions or Hidan anything that doesn't involve killing." She added as she took out some rise. Umi set the dining table and was fully aware of the chakra string attached to her.

After doing the dishes she asked Konan if it was possible to talk to Pein and was led by Konan to the office she was in the day before. Konan walked inside without knocking and talked to Pein before waving Umi inside.

"What was it you wanted to speak about?" He asked in a cold voice. "I'm ready to heal Itachi's eyes." Umi said thinking it was best to get straight to the point. Pein raised his eyebrow a little at her words. "Why are you so urgent to help us considering your situation?" He asked a bit suspicion was heard in his voice. Umi thought over her answer before she replied. "I'm trained as a medic and to be able to do that you need to have drive to help people. As I said to Itachi when he asked, even though you're criminals I see you as people and because of that I want to help." Half of this was true, she really wanted to help people even if they were criminals, but if it helped her get a chance to escape earlier that was a plus.

Pein nodded slowly, at that. "Very well. When Itachi gets back I expect you to start his healing immediately. You don't want to know what would happen if we notice that you're trying to sabotage the healing. Dismissed." Umi bowed politely and turned around and walked to the library and started to put back the books she had finished reading and then continued to her room.

Tiredly she stretched and walked over to the bed but realized that she didn't have any other clothes than what she wore. After thinking it over quickly she left her room and knocked on Konan's, or which she hoped was Konan's. When the blue haired woman opened she explained her problem. "I see, well tonight you can borrow one of my shirts. Tomorrow I can go by you some own clothes. Umi nodded in agreement and thanked Konan for borrowing her shirt.

In her own room Umi took a shower and then climbed into bed. She was tired but had troubles sleeping. She thought about her friends and family, was Neji and Hinata worried about where she was, would they come look for her? She hoped the hokage would agree to send a search party. She missed her home so much, and her genin team would they miss her even when they got a new jounin sensei? With her thoughts filled about her brother and two cousins she finally fell asleep.

* * *

Thats it, a bit longer to compensate for the short prologue and chapter 1. I apologize for any misspelling I've done.


	4. Chapter 3

Yay, this is by far the longest chapter I've ever written.

I would really love reviews.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did a few things would have changed. But I do own my OC's and the plot.

* * *

Next day Umi woke up early, there were naturally no windows when you were underground but she had a kind of good sense of time. She stretched and took her clothes and changed in the bathroom, she really needed some new clothes. While walking towards the kitchen she met Konan when she was on her way out of her room.

"Umi, can you give me your measurements and tell me what clothes you prefer. I was going to leave before breakfast and get you new clothes." Umi nodded and followed her inside her room, it had dark blue walls and dark wooden floor. Her sheets were also dark blue with cream colored, almost beige pillows. After getting Umi's size measured and a clue of her clothing style Konan followed the younger woman to the kitchen before leaving.

As expected she wasn't left alone for long, a hyper Tobi and a tired looking Deidara came in to the kitchen. "He managed to get hold of some chocolate, hmm. He woke everyone in the rooms near him over an hour ago." He said when he saw that Umi looked questioningly at Tobi who ran around the living room. "I see why sugar is not allowed to Tobi. Maybe a straightjacket would solve the problem?" Umi said smiling while trying to get the overexcited masked mans attention. "Good idea, hmm." The blonde answered tiredly as he ran his hand through his long hair.

Umi finally got Tobi to listen and got him to sit down at the table and eat the food she had put forth to him. "Since the table is set and the food is done I expect the others to come right about now." The kunoichi said and right after she finished they could hear voices in the lounge. Soon Pein, Sasori, Deidara, Tobi and Umi were eating their breakfast while trying to ignore Tobi's constant chattering, though Sasori didn't eat anything he still used to sit at the table when the rest ate.

After breakfast Sasori and Deidara left on an urgent mission to the sand to capture the Ichibi, but Umi wasn't told anything else than it was a normal mission. At the base the still very hyper Tobi ran around the base and irritated everyone. "**Tobi stop it, bad boy.**" Zetsu's black side said angrily. "But he can't help it." His white side argued back. "We'll take him with us on our mission." "**No way.**" Black Zetsu stated firmly. "But he'll be a good boy. Right Tobi?" "Hai Zetsu-san." Tobi said and happily followed Zetsu as the black side gave in. Umi looked bewildered after them, she hadn't quite gotten used to Zetsu's split personalities yet, or his plant like apperance.

After almost two hours after breakfast Konan came back from the village were she was shopping. Umi helped her carry the clothes to her room where she put it in the drawer after looking at them to see if they fitted. It was mostly regular clothes that Umi usually wore, full length pants and shorter ones, t-shirts and some sweatshirts and underwear. When Konan left Umi choose a pair of simple black pants and a deep purple t-shirt and took a long shower. Fully dressed and feeling much better with clean clothes on she decided to stay in her room until it was time for lunch.

There wasn't much to do here but the only place she could be alone in was her room since she wasn't allowed to wander around the base alone. She wasn't just their medic either, more like a maid, she cooked and cleaned too. But Umi didn't mind too much, it could have been worse, she could've been looked up in a dungeon or a cell, at least she had a bit freedom. And the members of Akatsuki weren't exactly what she had been expecting.

Considering her situation she got along well with Konan and Deidara who was only one year younger than Umi and therefore the one closest to her in age except Itachi but he was not social. The young Hyuuga also found it hard to understand that someone like Tobi worked with Akatsuki, his childlike behavior didn't quite fit the rest of the members. But it was hard to not like to masked man, he could easily make her laugh.

But this didn't change her mind the least, Umi was alert all the time for a chance of escape, though she knew if she was going to succeed neither Sasori nor Pein could be at the base. If the puppet master was there he would have a chakra string on her and the leader was undoubtedly very strong.

Umi let her thoughts drift like they wanted in hopes that a great plan would form but no luck on that point. By lunch she still hadn't figured out a plan, the best she had was to just try to sneak out, but that would certainly not work. Sighing she rose up from the bed and walked out of her room and to the kitchen here Konan waited for her cooking lesson and to keep an eye on the Hyuuga.

Late at night two days later Itachi and Kisame got back from their mission and after breakfast the next day Umi stood in the medical room in front of Itachi who sat on the bed, she didn't entirely like the fact of healing him, because of what he'd done, but she had no choice, and it was better to volunteer for it than be forced later on.

The kunoichi gently put her fingers on Itachi's temples and let her chakra examine the very sensitive and delicate structure of muscles, blood veins and the eye itself. When she was done she sighed inwardly, it would be a hard job to heal his eyes.

"The tiny capillary elements that transports oxygen to the eye are damaged some have already burst while some are on good way due to blood props. The only reason why you still can see are because there are a few blood vessels that are still functioning." She paused and walked over to a chair near the bed and sat down. Like always when Umi had a patient she got more formal and could ignore their faults until they were healthy again. Right now the fact that Itachi needed medical care was more urgent than thinking about him being a criminal.

"I understand. Can you heal it?" Itachi asked after awhile as if he dreaded the answer, when Umi sat quiet a while before answering he almost got the urge to tell her to answer already. "Yes I will be able to heal it. But it will be a delicate procedure and you'll do best in not use your mangekyou under the healing." The last she added with a stern voice. When Itachi nodded she rose up and walked over to him. "Depending on the time it takes we may need to split the healing up in case my chakra would be drained." She said before placing her finger tips on his temples again and gathered her chakra.

--

Two Hyuugas stood in front the godaimes desk, one angry and the other worried. "I-isn't there a-anything we can do Tsunade-sama?" Hinata asked in a soft voice, her cousin's disappearance was worrying her more than she tried to show. "Tsunade-sama I want to lead a team of ninjas who are good at searching to find my sister. We can't just let the Akatsuki take her. If we start at where the first team lost the trail maybe we can get another clue." Neji was trying hard to keep his voice under control but he had a hard time doing it. He had promised himself to protect Hinata, Hanabi and Umi, now his older sister was kidnapped and he would do anything to take her back.

"Neji I know you want to find your sister but we have other important matters to attend to. The sands kazekage have been abducted by Akatsuki. Team Kakashi is already on the way there, I want you and team Gai to follow them as a backup. And if Akatsuki kidnapped Umi it's a possibility that you'll get a chance at rescuing her too." Tsunade said. "Ts-Tsunade-sama, I also want to find Umi. Can't I go too?" Tsunade looked at Hinata and contemplated to let her join them, but decided against it. "No Hinata I'm afraid I can't let you. We need to have skilled ninjas left in Konoha too in case of an emergency. Even if a Konoha ninja disappears I need to think of the village too." She looked after the cousins as they bowed and left. And Hinata had grown much under these two years and much thanks to her oldest cousin, the godaime could only hope that they would find her alive.

"Umi-chan is a medical Nin Neji-nii san. Akatsuki ma-may treat her well because of that." Hinata said to her cousin as they waked towards the Hyuuga compound. Her cousin nodded with a stern look on his face and continued to the Tenten's house, which was the closest, after making sure Hinata went inside.

--

In the medical room at the Akatsuki base Umi let her chakra find the blood vessels that were on the verge of bursting and let her chakra carefully heal them. She took one at a time and took her time healing them, making sure it was done right. She felt her chakra drain slowly and it became harder to gather the needed chakra.

Exhausted she slumped down on the bed next to Itachi, her chakra was almost completely used up. Compared to normal injuries these more complicated healings took more chakra. "I managed to heal many of those vessels that were nearly bursting but we need to continue tomorrow and probably a few more times after that." She said and tried to rise up, but was almost too weak to stand, her knees gave in and she fell back down on the bed.

"It seems that you used up a bit too much chakra." The Uchiha commented and stood up before easily lifting Umi up bridal style. She didn't protest, but she was on the verge of unconsciousness so she could barely take in what happened. He carefully carried her downstairs and opened her door with a bit trouble and stepped over to her bed. He lay her down and turned of the light before he left and walked across the hall and into his own room.

His headache was gone and to his slight joy he could see clearer than he had in years. Maybe Umi would succeed in giving him his sight back, but would she need to heal him constantly since his mangekyou destroyed his eyes, or would it be enough this once? Even with his emotions buried he didn't want to take his younger brothers eyes to earn the eternal mangekyou sharingan, he didn't even want those eyes from the beginning, though he had to admit that they were helpful. He lay down on his bed, letting his raven black hair spill over the red pillows, putting his hands over his forehead, a habit he picked up due to a constant throbbing headache.

Over these seven years he had forced himself to forget all about his past, but he still remembered things from before the massacre. His brother's bright smile, his mother's warm kindness which he often ignored, his best friend's crazy ideas, which more than once ended in Itachi saving him, and Umi's sweet and caring personality. Itachi looked through his fingers at the ceiling, his onyx eyes looking beyond it and instead remembering a scene from his childhood.

--

In a big field a young girl, maybe around thirteen sat, waiting patiently, her slender hands tracing the flowers and smiling at the graceful dance of the butterflies. Suddenly she turned her head to the side looking at the edge of the field, a tall young man with long black hair came walking towards her, a rare smile creasing his lips.

The girls face filled with happiness as her milky white eyes met his onyx gaze. He sat down beside her, feeling more relaxed than he had been since he got an ANBU. But they were not alone for long, a load crash was heard as a boy fell from a tree branch. The boy however rose up immediately and walked over to the pair on the field, he were very similar to the first boy. But his eyes were a deep red and a goofy smile was plastered in his face.

--

Itachi usually pushed thoughts like these away, stray memories from his past would only weaken his protective wall. But this certain memory wasn't easy to push away. His first free moment after becoming an ANBU leader, he went to see Umi at her favorite field and then his best friend Shisui came crashing in, literary, bragging about his newly developed sharingan. As the thought hit him he wondered why he never used to call Umi his best friend, but it was so natural that she was with him that it felt unnecessary.

Thinking back he remembered her gaze when she saw him, it was filled with happiness and something else, was it confusion, longing or both. But why would she be confused? Besides it was a bit difficult to decide when he couldn't quite see her pupils. The young Uchiha drifted of to sleep in the middle of his thoughts, many months of straining himself because of a constant pain had thoroughly exhausted him. To finally be able to sleep through the night was a bliss. With sleep came forgetfulness and Itachi unconsciously buried his memories deep down again.

--

Many miles away team Gai followed Pakkuns nose towards the river country where the hideout was located. Determined to get to Akatsuki's hideout as fast as possible Neji barely had time to get irritated at Gai and Lee's ridiculous goals about reaching there in less than a day. Those two were also oblivious to his worry while Tenten noticed immediately how his behavior had changed.

But soon Pakkuns nose picked up a scent from behind, approaching with great speed, all stopped and turned around. A giant sword emerged from the ground and came rushing towards them, they dodged just in time and the sword smashed against the rock they stood against moments earlier instead. When the dust cloud calmed down a giant blue skinned man stood and easily handled the huge sword. "You are…" Gai started too say trying to remember. "Do you know him Gai-sensei?" Lee asked casting a glance at his sensei.

"Who are you?" Completely unaware of the fact that he had fought him earlier. "Ah it looks likes the bizarre beast is as dumb as one as well. Well at any rate, I'd better refresh your memory." The shark like man said, smirking before he jumped up in the air and released a water attack. It came crushing against team Gai like an enormous wave.

--

Itachi didn't wake up until dinnertime when the members who were downstairs opened and closed their doors. He stretched as he too walked upstairs and into the kitchen only to see that the dining room was set, which meant that Kakuzu and Hidan had returned from their mission. Itachi's guess proved right as a load cursing could be heard from Hidan and an icy replay from his money loving partner.

Not long after dinner Pein sent Itachi and Kisame on a new mission, an important stealth mission, preferably with no killing so it would be stupid to send Hidan. But a few hours later Pein gathered the remaining members, Deidara and Sasori had succeeded capturing the sands Jinchuuriki and had reached the cave where they normally extracted the bijus. After discussing with Konan Pein decided to let one of his six bodies guard the Hyuuga. Usually he left the five bodies in Ame but he called one of them to the main base after they captured the Hyuuga girl, in case he needed it there.

Deem Umi's surprise as she met a man very similar to the leader, the same auburn colored hair, many piercings and the rinnegan, in the lounge. "Who are you?" She asked cautiously, examining his long hair with bangs similar to Yamananka Ino's. "Pein." He simply answered. "But you don't look like him. At least not very much." "Thanks to the rinnegan I can be more than one." Pein answered cryptically, not wanting to explain it too deeply to a Konoha ninja or someone else than Konan for that matter.

Umi nodded, she didn't fully understand, not at all actually, but didn't bother asking useless questions instead she walked over to the library, no one seemed to be around and she wondered where they were, but she also knew that if she asked the leader she probably wouldn't get an answer.

By night fall Umi started to get impatient, where was everyone? She put down her book and walked over to the leader, she didn't care if he was stronger than her, she was of use and thereby he wouldn't kill her, probably.

"Where the hell is everyone?" She asked looking straight into his eyes, he didn't say anything for a long time, he only looked back at her. Umi forced herself to keep her gaze steady and didn't give in to the small voice in her head that told her this was a bad idea. Finally the leader decided to answer.

"They are extracting the Ichibi. It will take two more days before they are done." He said not breaking eye contact. "What do you mean with ´Ichibi´ and ´extracting?" Umi asked as she sat down on the opposite couch. As a former ANBU she had heard of Akatsuki, but not much was known about them so this was news to her. "There are nine bijuu's I'm sure you know that, a Jinchuuriki, such as Naruto for example are humans with a bijuu sealed inside. If you extract the demon you gain an incredible chakra source and by that an unimaginable power."

Umi sat quiet thinking over what Pein had said, she was sure that whatever Akatsuki needed the bijuus chakra for it was not any good intentions. But without further information she wouldn't be able to understand their motives completely. But she knew one thing for sure, Pein was a man with great leader skills and charisma, to be able to gather so many ninjas from different countries for a single goal. So many strange and straight out weird, persons followed his orders without any complaints or questions, Umi too followed his orders, until her chance presented itself at least.

Pein wasn't one of those stupid masterminds who tells their captives about their plans and ends up failing miserably. He only told people what was enough for the time being and never so much that he risked a failure. But what he told the young Hyuuga sitting before him wasn't dangerous information. The leaders in Konoha had certainly figured much of it out by analyzing Akatsuki's movements, besides she was unable to escape. If she by luck managed to get away from the hideout he would always be able to find her with his rain. Therefore he told her what he deemed right to keep her calm for the remaining two days.

After two boring days with only Pein as company, or rather a very quiet guard, Umi could hear voices coming upstairs. "Hey girl" I'm fucking hungry, I haven't eaten for three fucking days." "Hidan you're not the only one to be hungry there is no need to complain, she isn't going to cook faster because of you swearing you're lungs out." Kakuzu calmly answered with a sharp tone. "But on the other hand that would make you shut up for awhile."

Umi smiled happily and started to cook some food, after these three days she was even glad hearing Hidan's cursing. As usual Konan helped her with the cooking, or tried to, she hadn't quite learned how to cook yet, but she hadn't set the kitchen on fire which was positive.

Next day Umi got more job, Deidara came back from his mission alone. Sasori had been killed by his grandma and a young pink haired girl. Umi, who recognized Sakura from his description, was glad the kunoichi survived and amazed that she and the old lady managed to defeat Sasori who was very strong. But when she saw Deidara she was shocked. Both of his arms were gone.

"What happened?" Umi asked as she carefully helped the bomber to remove his cloak so she could heal his arms, or what was left of them. "The kazekage crushed it with his damn sand, hmm. The other was ripped of by the copy ninja's sharingan." He said and grimaced a bit when Umi rinsed the arm stump from dirt and sand. Umi held her green glowing hand over the stump and tried not to show her feelings.

She knew that Gaara had one of the demons inside and that he had been an unstable killing machine until his fight with Naruto two and a half years ago. He had earned the trust of his village and was chosen to become kazekage. The extraction was done, but what did it mean? Did the host survive it or were they killed? She stopped the chakra flow and removed her hand to examine her work.

"It's healed now, but you need to be careful with it for awhile. And it will most likely hurt quite a bit. If it gets too intense tell me so can I ease the pain a bit." With one arm fixed she turned her attention to his right arm. The part that was missing was the elbow area, the under arm lay on the table beside her, she once again used her chakra to heal the open wound. "Wait here while I look for Kakuzu so he can help me sew them back on."

She had luck, Kakuzu sat in the living room half watching TV. "Kakuzu, would you mind help me with Deidara's arms?" Umi asked as politely as she could, standing beside the couch waiting patiently for him to answer. He nodded and listened as Umi explained what needed to be done. "We can get the parts we need from Sasori's old puppet collection." He said to the girl and led her downstairs to a room near the stairs. Inside it was puppets everywhere, at first glance it looked very random but when she studied it closer she noticed that everything was in perfect order. A vide variety of blocks of different tree species stood in one corner, Puppets was neatly placed on one wall. A bed that looked relatively unused stood in one corner, almost hidden from view by big boxes filled with sawdust and discarded parts. An open door led to a well organized laboratory.

Kakuzu walked over to one of the boxes with parts that looked more human than many of the rest and looked through it and showed Umi some parts until they found an elbow part and an arm that would fit. "These parts don't look like puppet parts." Umi said as she examined them closer. "They are human parts, how come?" Seeing body parts not attached to a body was really no big deal for a medical ninja.

"That's because he knew a technique that allowed him to turn humans into puppets." Umi wanted to know more but refrained from doing it. Kakuzu had answered once and was probably not going to do it again, she was better of asking Deidara, Konan or Kisame seeing as they were the members that were most friendly.

In the medical room Umi held the arm and the elbow in the right position as Kakuzu used his tentacle things to sew them together. Then they did the same with the left arm. Judging by the blonde's face it hurt getting them sewn on. After he was done he left after telling her that she was able to pull out the threads after two weeks. "This may hurt a bit." Umi said to Deidara and used her chakra to mend the parts together. Other than wincing a few times he showed no signs of pain under the healing.

You shouldn't use either of your arms too much until we can remove the stitches at least, which means no missions for you. I'll explain for leader-sama and if it hurts too much tell me." Umi said as she started to clean everything of in the room. "But what about you're left hand mouth, it's gone right?" "Yeah but I can create a new one with a kinjutsu, hmm." Umi looked up at him wondering what jutsu that could be.

After finishing in the medical room Umi went to the leader's office and knocked. She was called inside almost immediately. "I've managed to replace Deidara's arms with the help of Kakuzu, sir. But he won't be able to go on any missions for two weeks the shortest. His arms need time to heal properly. Not even medical jutsus can heal everything in no time." She said when she got inside. "That will be fine. Then he can get used to his new partner under these weeks. You're dismissed, and tell Deidara to come here." Pein said after thinking about it.

Umi did as she was told, she found the artist in the kitchen. "Leader-sama wants' to see you. You're getting a new partner." She said and followed him out to the living room but continued to the TV instead, she swiped the remote from the table and slumped down in the couch. Deidara walked inside the office and it went quiet for a few minutes.

"WHAT THE HELL!" A load shouting was heard through the office door, Umi dropped the remote and almost jumped out of the couch at the sudden scream. "I'M NOT TEAMING UP WITH HIM, HMM!" Umi heard as she bent down and picked up the remote from the floor, it went quiet again but not long after the door was forcefully opened and slammed shut and a very angry Deidara stomped over to the door leading downstairs. "Something wrong?" Umi asked wondering what on earth could've angered the usually happy and easy going artist. "My new partner that's what's wrong. Tobi is going to become a member and my new partner, hmm." He said with a scowl as he continued downstairs. By the short time Umi had been there she had easily noticed that Tobi often seemed to irritate Deidara, seemingly without purpose. That would be a very straining team work if they continued like this.

Next morning the bomber had calmed down enough to not kill Tobi on spot but was still very irritable. And when Zetsu arrived with Tobi in his trails at the same time as Itachi and Kisame his mood only worsened. After Tobi's initiation it was time for the next treatment of Itachi's eyes. Umi was a bit low on chakra after Deidara's checkup earlier that day so she wasn't able to fully heal Itachi's eyes. "I'm sure they will be fully healed after one more treatment, at the most two more if you don't use your mangekyou sharingan. If you do we would have to start from scratch since your eye is more sensitive during the healing." She said, this time she stopped before she drained all her chakra like last time.

"Hn. I see." The Uchiha answered as he rose up and prepared to leave. "Umm, Itachi?" He turned and looked at Umi almost looking surprised, not once since they kidnapped her had she said his name or attempted to talk to him. "Does a jinchuuriki survive an extraction? Umi continued when he gestured at her to continue. "No." "Oh." She went quiet but before he could leave she stopped him again. "What happened to my brother and the teams from Konoha?" Umi asked, when using her byakugan she had seen the teams arriving from Konoha but then they got to far away for her viewing range. "They survived. The kazekage too, Chiyo-san used a resurrection technique." Itachi said before leaving.

Relief rushed through her and her tension eased, ever since she saw team 7 and Gai come she had been worried. When she couldn't see them anymore she got even more worried, though Umi knew her brother, and the others, could take care of themselves. But they were up against very strong opponents.

--

Team Kakashi had just left the godaimes office and Team Gai went in instead, Tsunade didn't even have to ask to know they didn't found Umi. "We didn't find her but we know they have her. The blue man we fought clearly admitted that." Neji said and Tsunade could easily tell what he was going to say next before he did. "I want to go there and get her back. In the worse case locate her and retreat while formulating a plan." Tsunade thought over it carefully before deciding anything. Neji would probably go even if she said no, but if she said yes she could make sure it went as safe as possible.

"Alright, you may go. But you're not allowed to do anything but spy and try to find a way to break in. If there is a way, call for a backup team. You may choose those you see fit for the mission." Tsunade finally said and took a sip of her sake, she doubted that they would find a way, the Akatsuki was too skilled to leave openings like that. But Tsunade had to admit that she would have done the same if Dan or her brother lived and had been kidnapped.

Neji walked along the empty streets of Konoha deciding who he was going to choose, he didn't like it but Hinata would be good to have. Shikamaru would be a good choice too, he was smart enough to find something that Neji wouldn't think of or if something went wrong he would be able to formulate an escape plan. Kiba had a great sense of smell, better than any ninja dog, he would be able to trace Umi however small trace of smell there was. At last he decided that Ino would be useful with her mind control jutsu and her medical skills.

Earlier, after the first search, he had talked to some of her friends among the other jounins and chuunins but their searching hadn't been successful. But if he started nearby the cave they found Akatsuki they could spread out until they found a trace. Satisfied with his team he turned left from the main street and into a smaller road leading to Ino's house, Shikamaru lived pretty close too. The Inuzuka's house and the Hyuuga compound were located on each side of Konoha so he saved them for last.

* * *

I know this chapter centered quiet a bit on Deidara in the end, but I didn't want to just jump over healing his arms writing something like: Umi healed his arms and got Kakuzu to help her sew new arms on.

That sounds a bit too lame. But I will bring in Itachi more in the next chapters.

And I hope Itachi's flashback was too cheesy or something like that. Or that it's too strange that he remembers his past.

I apologize for any misspelling as always.


End file.
